SPRING BREAK ROAD TRIP

Yosemite, Central California Coast, and San Fransico

The Jones Family RV Express

We drove from SLC to Reno where we parked in the SCHEEL's parking lot to spend our first night.  At 1AM the security guard awakened us and told us that we were not allowed to park RV's in that parking lot.  So much for internet knowledge.  We moved the RV to a street just outside the SCHEEL's parking lot and slept through the remainder of the night.

The next day we made it to a campsite about an hour outside of Yosemite National Park.  We didn't dare drive into the park and find all the last-minute RV sites full.  Every mile in the RV is about $.50 in gas so we don't like to back-track if it can be avoided.  We spend a very quite night near a nice lake.  Noah ended up with Poison Oak rash due to an early morning hike through the woods, but thankfully it cleared up without much problem.

Leaving the Snow in our Cruise America RV

The next day we drove into Yosemite and reserved a last minute RV site for the next two nights.  We felt fortunate to be travelling in the shoulder season when such reservations were available through a lottery system.  In the summer we would have been OUT OF LUCK.  The next two days were spent enjoying the splendor of Yosemite.  Granite cliffs, bike rides along the Valley floor.  Hikes up the valley walls, along pristine rivers, and through the giant Sequoia groves.  A few of our photos are included below:

WE LOVE THAT OUR KIDS ARE BEST FRIENDS

Running among the Ancient Giants

JONES FAMILY BEST And WORST 2011

Jones Family 2011 Best and Worst 

Joycie (8 months)

Best – puffy-cheeked raspberries - blowing food all over her tray - to announce that she’s done eating. 

Worst – Family fights about who gets to have the first five minute turn with Joycie during long church meetings.

Quotes:  “She WON’T grow up!”  Sage, wishing for a better play partner, accuses Joycie of slacking off.

Sage (3 years)

Best – Watching her long hair swish as she dances and sings to her eclectic itunes playlist

Worst – Watching the most impressive tantrums any Jones child has yet produced

Quote:  “If you fall into this kind of potty. . . you’re GONE.”  (Sage has healthy respect for campground potties)

Mercy (6 years)

Best – applying all her good cheer, creativity, and intellect to raising Sage

Worst –  subjecting all of us to the Annie soundtrack hundreds... and hundreds...maybe thousands... of times

Quote:  “Which mommy do you want to rinse out your hair?” (Mercy speaking to Sage, meaning Holly-Mom or Mercy-Mom)

Oak (10 years)

Best – Another year of peace in his heart, without anger toward any other person.  

Worst –  Oak has yet to outgrow a messy streak -- don't peek under his bed or in his closet....

Quote:  “Actually, Noah’s more of a hoodoo than a mountain.”  (Oak’s scientific mind manifest in response to someone calling Noah a mountain)

Danny (12 years)

Best – Pushing ahead in math for  the pure pleasure doing math -- He’s studying with the kids 2 grades ahead.

Worst – Pushing Mercy’s buttons

Quote – “It was an accident!”  (is it really an accident when Danny pulls a fire alarm in a crowded church for the SECOND time in his short life?)

Noah (14 years)

Best – Loves his experience at the German-speaking EFY, watching him toss and twirl his little sisters through the air

Worst – Too cheap to buy new Sunday shoes, Noah must at times be reigned in by the fashion police prohibiting him from wearing his navy blue suit with worn brown loafers.

Quotes – “You know, it is easier to be confident when you always had a friend that was a girl who would tell you that all her friends thought you were cute.”  (boy, tough work being a teenager…)

Mike (39  years)

Best – Daddy Warbucks wows Noah’s friends with his retro dance moves at a school formal.

Worst -  Instead of watching fishing videos late into the night, Mike now watches YouTube videos about coaching competitive boys  basketball – new offenses, drills, etc.  (Oak and team are the lucky beneficiaries).  

Holly (39 years)

Best –  Jumpshots at a deserted beach in Costa Rica at 5 months pregnant

Worst – No improvement on my 12-minute mile running pace. 
Quote from Sage, summing up so many sweet moments during 2011:  “I a princess.”  (pause, and taking my hand) “I YOUR princess, Mommy.”

FATHER AND SONS-- Flyfishing

FATHER AND SONS

Flyfishing

James, Dad, Ammon, and I on Eagle Lake

Map of the Sixlakes Property

In June my Dad and two of my three brothers joined me at the Eagle Cabin on SixLakesUtah near Altamont, Utah for two days of flyfishing, feasting, and fun.  We had originally planned the trip for last fall, but James' Father-in-Law, Joe Routt passed away unexpectedly and so we had to cancel the trip and reschedule for this year in June.  To the credit of the SixLakes Property, they did not take my reservation fee despite our last-minute cancellation last fall.  Since I had paid for the whole trip last year, it almost felt like it was free this year because the money was already spent out of last year's budget.

Aaron was not able to join us because he and Amy had already scheduled a vacation at the same time.  Aaron was also recently called into his ward bishopric, making it doubly difficult for him to get away on the weekend.

The fishing was amazing.  I caught huge Rainbow trout from Meadow Lake and Loon Lake.  We all caught small rainbows from Totem Lake, and we caught a mixture of rainbows, brown, and tiger trout from Eagle lake and Duck Lake.

For any considering a family flyfishing trip or a guys weekend away, I highly reccomend the SixLakes property.  It is in a beautiful setting and the cabins are more than comfortable.  We enjoyed the fishing, horse shoes, rifle shooting, jogging on the country roads surrounding the property, and lots of great BBQing.

ARCHES NP and Rapelling in the DARK

The kids had the day off on Friday and so we borrowed a 12-seater Van from some close friends and took our kids and two friends to Moab for the day.  We were hoping to escape the rain soaked weather of  northern Utah and we were ALMOST successful.  Our main goal on this trip was to celebrate Oak's 10th Birthday.  He had specifically asked to go on a family adventure including some rappelling.

Holly baked the cake, but didn't get it decorated before we left town.  The decorations were added with the help of Mercy and Sage, while nursing Joyce on the side of  route 279 between Moab and Potash.  While Holly was decorating the cake I was helping the older kids rappel down a 70ft cliff in the dark.  We ended up leaving the rappelling site at 1030PM and didn't arrive home until 0230 in the morning on Saturday.

We had lots of fun playing on the big sand dune just outside Arches National Park and then driving into the park for some sight seeing and a hike to Delicate Arch in the pouring rain.  Due to the rain, we arrived at Delicate Arch and had it to ourselves for about 20 minutes.  All in all it was a wonderful family adventure from which we have spent the remainder of the weekend recovering.